“I really wanted the colors to blend and transform, in tribute to Rothko’s
artistic vision,” Biggs explains. It’s a lovely drink (available to everyone for
$12 throughout the Rothko run), especially if you give the bourbon and
Campari—two very strong and distinctive flavors—a chance to mingle. And
after a couple drinks you can mingle with your fellow cultural traveler at one
of the aforementioned events during this citywide soiree. Cheers, Mr.
Rothko.

Hunter Valley winemakers may have raised their eyebrows when local bar manager Jamie Walker(below right) began using their wines in his cocktails, but he says the concept is taking off.

Walker, of Goldfish Hunter Valley, told TheShout the idea of wine-based cocktails came from his experience bartending in fine dining restaurants with cocktail bars attached in his native home of Scotland.

He said he’s lucky to be friendly with lots of local winemakers who drink at the bar, and have been very helpful in giving him their ideas on what they think he should do.

“And sometimes what they think I should try and avoid!”

Walker told TheShout that a few of the Hunter’s “old guard” were at first sceptical of the concept, but many have since come round to the idea.

He said they understand the value of putting younger drinkers, or people who wouldn’t normally drink wine, onto Hunter wines.

Their upcoming Wicker Park venture, Trenchermen (40 percent bar, 60 percent restaurant—at least according to the seat allocation), is on target for a late March opening in the old Spring space. But brothers and chefs Michael (Blackbird) and Patrick Sheerin (Signature Room at the 95th) aren’t holed up testing recipes under top-secret lockdown until then. By tonight’s end, the Sheerins, along with partners Matt Eisler and Kevin Heisner (the guys behind Bangers & Lace and The Anthem) and beverage director Tona Palomino (WD-50), will have hosted six pop-up dinners—with cocktails pairings, naturally—since Sunday evening at Logan Square Kitchen. The menu features dishes such as aged duck breast with cornbread and yuzu apple sauce; drinks include the Slippery Slope (rye, Cynar, Heering cherry liqueur) and the Para Todo Bien (mezcal, Yellow Chartreuse, pineapple).

Browse our photos from Monday night below. And good news for Valentine’s slackers: Tickets are still available for two of tonight’s seatings, at 5:30 and 9:30 p.m.; $120 gets you a five-course dinner with drink pairings, tax, and tip.

Tell us about your invention, the Copenhagen Cocktail.
I wanted to make a modern cocktail with interesting twists that everyone could enjoy. And, I wanted to challenge people’s preconceptions about Cherry Heering liqueur – a drink Queen Victoria enjoyed as an after-dinner tipple. I decided to mix it with Bols Genever, the original form of gin used in cocktails in the 1800s; it’s a little off the radar these days. It’s been served at 1105 since we won; friends in New York, Sydney, London, Tokyo – and, or course, at bars in Copenhagen – serve it, too.

My favorite cocktail, bar none, is the Blood and Sand. I wasn’t reading Eric Felten’s excellent WSJ column, “How’s Your Drink?” quite as religiously in 2008, but he has an excellent rundown of the drink’s history and composition. I’d never heard of the movie that inspired the drink’s name, but I certainly relate to the screenwriter he mentions later on who offered $100 to the bartender to learn what was in one. It’s one of the few cocktails that include scotch, and the combination is one that’s strange but so delicious that I enjoy almost as much as a glass of scotch by itself.

Instead of learning about it years ago as I probably should have, I had my first Blood and Sand last summer while dining at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon in The Venetian at Las Vegas. Not only is the food, service, and decor top notch, but the location can’t be beat. You have to find your way to the elevators by the parking garage and take them up to the higher floors, where it sits in a separate lobby far away from the noise of the casino and shops. There are even gas-lit lamps! It was definitely one of the things that made me want to stay at The Venetian on my next trip to Las Vegas.

Fortunately, it’s not a very difficult cocktail to make …sort of. Just combine scotch, sweet vermouth, Cherry Heering, and blood orange juice in a shaker. If you’re off in the proportions, it may be a little too sweet, but it won’t taste awful. Even cheap scotch will do, and you can increase the proportion to make it stand out more against the sugar. The bigger issue is the Cherry Heering and blood orange juice.

Blood oranges are typically in season around mid-December, but for the life of me I haven’t seen them anywhere. Maybe if I were still living in California, where I can get anything at any time, but not in Seattle. I was at a cooking class that month, and the chef was very disappointed that he couldn’t find any to garnish the salads.

Eric recommends in his article that you don’t use blood orange juice from a carton. First of all, it’s expensive (I paid about $5 for 500 mL at Whole Foods), but sitting on the shelf also removes some of the tartness that you need to counteract the sugar. If you do need to rely on packaged juice, you might want to go with ordinary orange juice, which seems to stay tart longer (but choose a brand like Simply that has fewer off flavors). The packaged blood orange juice was almost pure sweetness.

The Cherry Heering is also something most people aren’t going to have on hand. It’s similar to cherry brandy, so you could probably find a close substitute, but I wouldn’t recommend maraschino syrup. That would be too sweet and without enough alcohol. Remember from when I introduced the Aviation, maraschino syrup and maraschino liqueur are very different. It’s the former that is used to preserve cherries, and you should be able to buy a small bottle by itself without any fruit.

Instead, if you don’t have any Cherry Heering, try to find another sort of brandy. Cherry brandy would do, or cognac, or even Grand Marnier since you’re going to have some orange flavor anyway. I tried making one with Grand Marnier instead of Cherry Heering, and it turned out great. You can still add a maraschino cherry for garnish to get some of that missing flavor.

Eric’s recipe is a winner, so I wouldn’t deviate from it much other than perhaps to increase the amount of scotch as I mentioned above.

So the next time you want a cocktail, are tired of the usual, and want to try something unique without relying on the strange flavored martinis they’re churning out these days, consider a Blood and Sand. The name is manly, and the scotch backs that up, but it won’t have nearly the bite you would expect.

…Now, though, I was faced with a task that I didn’t relish, so I had to think quickly.

I developed the My Hat Cocktail. I might not be able to eat it, but in London next year I’ll certainly drink My Hat.

The cocktail is based on the High Hat Cocktail, a mixture of rye, Cherry Heering and fresh lemon juice. I’ve merely tinkered with the ratios a little and switched out the lemon juice for a little Jagermeister.

I’m quite partial to a little Jagermeister. Rye-wise I like the Michter’s 10-year-old in this one if you can find it; the Rittenhouse 100-proof is a fine bottling, too.

If I see you at a bar, I might just let you buy me one of these babies. I have a reputation to uphold, you know.

Now, though, I was faced with a task that I didn’t relish, so I had to think quickly.

I developed the My Hat Cocktail. I might not be able to eat it, but in London next year I’ll certainly drink My Hat.

The cocktail is based on the High Hat Cocktail, a mixture of rye, Cherry Heering and fresh lemon juice. I’ve merely tinkered with the ratios a little and switched out the lemon juice for a little Jagermeister.

I’m quite partial to a little Jagermeister. Rye-wise I like the Michter’s 10-year-old in this one if you can find it; the Rittenhouse 100-proof is a fine bottling, too.

If I see you at a bar, I might just let you buy me one of these babies. I have a reputation to uphold, you know.

If anyone calls you a mezcal snob at this gastrocantina in North Park, they’re not kidding! You’ve been showing off all night, describing how this agave-plant alcohol fills the lungs like campfire, sighs down the back of the throat. And just when you’re impressing everyone with your extensive spirits knowledge, you order one of El Take It Easy’s off-menu specials: the I.B. Sunset. It’s a dry drink, made with Reposado mezcal, sweet vermouth, Cherry Heering liqueur, and fresh-squeezed orange juice. “Sweet smokiness in my tummy!” You say, sounding every bit the cocktail connoisseur. Get it with a pork belly taco.